Swipe toolbar to switch tabs

ABSTRACT

Aspects of the subject technology relate to switching tabs in an application. A system is configured to provide for the display an application interface. The application interface includes a toolbar and content associated with a first tab from a plurality of tabs open in the application. The system is further configured to receive, via an input device, a swipe gesture on the toolbar in the application interface and switch, in response to the receiving of the swipe gesture, from displaying in the application interface the content associated with the first tab to displaying content associated with a second tab in the plurality of tabs.

FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to user interface interactionsand, in particular, to switching tabs in an application.

BACKGROUND

Many applications are configured to be able to load content fromdifferent sources to be loaded. A user may then switch between thecontent within an interface provided by the application. For example, aweb browser may allow for multiple web pages or other content to be openat the same time by using browser tabs. The content of one of the tabs(e.g., an active tab) may be displayed in an interface (e.g., a window)provided by the web browser. There may also be a tab toolbar showingopen tabs in the web browser. To switch between tabs, a user may selecta desired tab which causes the web browser to display the contents ofthe desired tab.

In some cases, space on a screen or on the application interface may beat a premium and the tab toolbar may take up valuable space.Furthermore, for touch screen devices, using the tab toolbar to switchbetween tabs may be difficult because the tabs shown in the tab toolbarmay be small and hard for a user to select using the user's finger or astylus.

SUMMARY

Aspects of the subject technology relate to a system for switching tabsin an application. The system includes one or more processors and amachine-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, whichwhen executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to perform operations. The operations include providing forthe display an application interface, the application interfacecomprising a toolbar and content associated with a first tab from aplurality of tabs open in the application, receiving, via an inputdevice, a swipe gesture on the toolbar in the application interface, andswitching, in response to the receiving of the swipe gesture, fromdisplaying in the application interface the content associated with thefirst tab to displaying content associated with a second tab in theplurality of tabs.

Additional aspects of the subject technology relate to acomputer-implemented method for switching tabs in an application. Themethod includes displaying an application interface on a touch screen,the application interface comprising a toolbar and content associatedwith a first tab from a plurality of tabs open in the application,receiving, on the touch screen, a swipe gesture on the toolbar in theapplication interface, and switching, in response to the receiving ofthe swipe gesture, from displaying the content associated with the firsttab to displaying content associated with a second tab in the pluralityof tabs.

Aspects of the subject technology may also relate to a non-transitorymachine-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, whichwhen executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations forswitching tabs in a web browser. The operations include displaying abrowser interface on a touch screen, the browser interface comprising anaddress toolbar and content associated with a first tab from a pluralityof tabs open in a web browser, receiving, on the touch screen, a swipegesture on the address toolbar in the application interface, andswitching, in response to the receiving of the swipe gesture, fromdisplaying the content associated with the first tab to displayingcontent associated with a second tab in the plurality of tabs.

It is understood that other configurations of the subject technologywill become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from thefollowing detailed description, wherein various configurations of thesubject technology are shown and described by way of illustration. Aswill be realized, the subject technology is capable of other anddifferent configurations and its several details are capable ofmodification in various other respects, all without departing from thescope of the subject technology. Accordingly, the drawings and detaileddescription are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not asrestrictive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide furtherunderstanding and are incorporated in and constitute a part of thisspecification, illustrate disclosed aspects and together with thedescription serve to explain the principles of the disclosed aspects.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example computing deviceconfigured to switch tabs in an application, according to variousaspects of the subject technology.

FIG. 2A, FIG. 2B, and FIG. 2C are diagrams illustrating an examplescenario where an application interface switches tabs in response to aswipe gesture, in accordance with various aspects of the subjecttechnology.

FIG. 3A, FIG. 3B, and FIG. 3C are diagrams illustrating an examplescenario where an application interface including a tab toolbar switchestabs in response to a swipe gesture, in accordance with various aspectsof the subject technology.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example process for switching tabsin an application, in accordance with various aspects of the subjecttechnology.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example computer system 500with which any of the computing devices described herein may beimplemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description set forth below is intended as a description ofvarious configurations of the subject technology and is not intended torepresent the only configurations in which the subject technology may bepracticed. The appended drawings are incorporated herein and constitutea part of the detailed description. The detailed description includesspecific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understandingof the subject technology. However, it will be apparent to those skilledin the art that the subject technology may be practiced without thesespecific details. In some instances, well-known structures andcomponents are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuringthe concepts of the subject technology.

According to various aspects of the subject technology, a system isconfigured to enable a user to switch between multiple tabs in anapplication by using a swiping gesture across a toolbar. The swipegesture may include, for example, swiping a finger or a stylus across atoolbar displayed on a touch screen of a computing device. The toolbarmay be provided as a part of an application, such as an address bar of aweb browser where users may view or enter a uniform resource locator(URL).

The tab switching process may include displaying the application on atouch screen. The application may appear on the touch screen with atoolbar and content associated with one of the tabs open in theapplication. The tab displayed on the touch screen may be considered theactive tab while other tabs that open in the application which are notdisplayed may be considered inactive tabs. A user may swipe the toolbardisplayed on the touch screen to switch from the tab currently displayedon the touch screen to another tab open in the application. Upondetecting a swipe gesture on the toolbar for the application, theapplication is configured to switch from displaying the contentassociated with the first tab to displaying content associated withanother tab open in the application.

By providing the user with a means to switch between tabs in a webbrowser using a swipe gesture on an address bar, other user interfaceelements used for switching tabs do not need to be displayed, thussaving space for other content (e.g., web page content or otherapplication interface components) or allowing existing content to beenlarged. Furthermore, whether or not other interface elements forswitching tabs are displayed, allowing a user to switch between tabs byswiping an address bar provides a convenient method for switching tabs.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example computing device 100configured to switch tabs in an application, according to variousaspects of the subject technology. The computing device 100 may be, forexample, a mobile device (e.g., a smart phone, a global positioningsystem device, or a tablet computer), a laptop, a desktop computer, agaming console, a smart television or other appliance, a set top box, orany other computing machine capable of running an application. Theapplication may include, for example, a web browser, a content (e.g.,image or video) viewer application, a text or image editor, or any otherapplication that can load multiple tabs of content.

The computing device 100 may include a display interface 110, an inputinterface 120, and a tab switching module 130. However, in other aspectscomponents may be removed, additional components may be added, oralternative components may be used. In some implementations, the modulesor interfaces may include instructions encoded in a non-transitorymedium and executed by a processor, computer hardware components, or acombination of both. The components may each also include one or moreprocessors or memories that are used to perform the functions describedbelow or share one or more processors or memories.

The display interface 110 may be configured to manage the display ofcontent on a display device connected to or in communication with thecomputing device 100. For example, the display interface 110 may beconfigured to display an application interface on a display device(e.g., a touch screen, a monitor, etc.). The application interface maybe displayed in the entire display area for the display device or on aportion of the display area. The application displayed may support anumber of open tabs and appear on the display device showing a toolbar(e.g., the address toolbar for a web browser) and content associatedwith one of the supported tabs.

The input interface 120 is configured to receive user input signals fromone or more input devices connected to or in communication with thecomputing device 100. In some case the input device and the displaydevice may be a part of the same device (e.g., a touch screen device).Although some aspects of the subject technology are discussed withrespect to a touch screen input device, other touch-sensitive inputdevices (e.g., a touchpad or a touch-sensitive display) and other inputdevices (e.g., a mouse, game controllers, or gyroscopic devices) thatcan simulate swipe gestures may also be used with an application runningon a computing device. For example, the input interface 120 may receive,from an input device, an indication of a swipe gesture at a locationcorresponding to the toolbar of the application.

In response to receiving the swipe gesture, tab switching module 130 maybe configured to switch from displaying the content associated with afirst tab to displaying content associated with a second tab. Accordingto some aspects, the tab switching module 130 may determine which tabopen on the application to display based on characteristics of thereceived swipe gesture. For example, as will be described in furtherdetail below, the tab switching module 130 may switch from one tab toanother tab based on the direction of the swiping gesture, a length ofthe swiping gesture, or a starting point and ending point of a swipinggesture.

FIG. 2A, FIG. 2B, and FIG. 2C are diagrams illustrating an examplescenario where an application interface 205 switches tabs in response toa swipe gesture, in accordance with various aspects of the subjecttechnology. FIG. 2A shows an application interface 205 in the form of aweb browser displayed on a touch screen. The application interface 205may correspond to an application in which multiple tabs are open,however only the content of one tab 210 is shown in the applicationinterface 205.

A toolbar 215 is displayed in the application interface 205 and isconfigured to receive and display the location or source of the contentloaded in the displayed tab 210. For example, in FIG. 2A, the toolbar215 is an address toolbar for the web browser that displays a uniformresource locator (URL) field. In particular, the address toolbarindicates that the content for the currently active tab 210 is from theURL “www.website2.com.”

Some web browsers display a tab switching toolbar or other userinterface component near the top of the web browser that allows a userto switch between tabs or that provides an indication of the availabletabs. Although multiple tabs may be open in the application, inaccordance with some aspects, the application interface 205 displayed onthe touch screen does not display any other user interface componentthat provides an indication of the open tabs. Nor is any other userinterface component displayed that allows a user to switch between tabs.Instead, the user may switch tabs by using a swipe gesture on theaddress bar 215. As a result, the space saved from not needing todisplay these additional user interface components may be used for othercontent.

As seen in FIG. 2A, a user may initiate a swipe gesture 230 by makingcontact with the touch screen with a finger 225 (or stylus) and draggingthe finger 225 on the touch screen. Although the swipe gesture 230 inFIG. 2A is a horizontal swipe gesture, in other aspects, vertical swipegestures or other swipe gestures may also be used. Furthermore, althoughthe toolbar is positioned horizontally at a top portion of theapplication interface, the toolbar may also be oriented in a differentmanner (e.g., vertically).

As mentioned above, the tab switching module 130 may switch from one tabto another tab based on the direction of the swiping gesture. Forexample, the swipe gesture 230 in FIG. 2A is shown occurring to theleft. As the swipe gesture 230 on the toolbar 215 occurs, the content ofthe active tab 210 shown in FIG. 2A may be dragged to the left, as canbe seen in FIG. 2B.

FIG. 2B shows that as the swipe gesture 230 continues to the left, thecontent of the tab 210 previously displayed in the application interface205 is dragged to the left and the content of another tab 250 open inthe application begins to appear in the application interface 205. Thecontent of tab 210 is dragged such that location of the point of contactbetween the user's finger 225 is the same relative to the displayedcontent of tab 210 and the toolbar 215.

According to some aspects of the subject technology, at this point, theuser may reverse the direction of the swipe gesture 230 if the userdesires and return to the right. In response, the content of the tab 210may be dragged back to the right and return to its original position asseen in FIG. 2A. Accordingly, the user may have a preview of the contentof the tab 250 to the right of tab 210 and, if the user does not wish toswitch tabs, the user can return the application interface 205 to itsoriginal view using the same swipe gesture 230.

If, on the other hand, the user wishes to switch tabs to the tab 250 tothe right of tab 210, the user may continue the swipe gesture 230. Oncethe swipe gesture 230 reaches a threshold, the switching of the tabsfrom tab 210 to tab 250 will complete. As is seen in FIG. 2C, theswitching of tabs from tab 210 to tab 250 is complete and the content oftab 250, the new active tab, is displayed in the application interface205. The application interface 205 is also shown with the addresstoolbar 215 showing the URL (“www.website1.com”) for the new active tab250. The threshold may be, for example, an amount of tab 210 that hasbeen dragged off of the displayed area of the application interface 205,an amount of tab 250 that has been dragged onto the displayed area ofthe application interface 205, or a length of a swipe gesture 230.

As discussed above, the tab switching module 130 may switch from one tabto another tab based on the direction of the swiping gesture, a lengthof the swiping gesture, or a starting point and ending point of aswiping gesture. For example, as the user makes the swipe gesture, theactive tab may switch from the currently displayed tab to a previous tabor a subsequent tab based on the direction of the tab. If there ispositional order to the tabs open in the application, the active tabdisplayed in the application may switch from one tab to another tabpositioned in the direction of the swipe (e.g., if the user swipes tothe left, a tab to the right of the active tab may become active and bedisplayed or if the user swipes to the right, a tab to the left of theactive tab may become active and be displayed). Although the exampleillustrated in FIGS. 2A-2C show the user making a swiping gesture 230 tothe left, the user may also make a swiping gesture to the right. In sucha scenario, the tab to the left of the active tab may be displayed atthe end of the swiping gesture.

Furthermore, the tab switching module 130 may switch to tabs immediatelyadjacent to the active tab or the toolbar may switch to tabs furtheraway from the active tab depending on how far the user swipes. Accordingto one implementation, the tabs may be scrolled through as the usermakes the swiping gesture, allowing the user to stop the swiping gesturewhen the desired tab is reached.

According to various aspects of the subject technology, the applicationinterface may include an additional user interface component thatprovides the user with an indication of the multiple tabs that the useris switching between may be displayed on the touch screen. For example,the application interface displayed on the touch screen may include atab toolbar that provides the user with an indication of how many tabsare open in the application and an identifier (e.g., a tab title) forthe open tabs. The tab toolbar may also allow the user to determinewhich tab the user is switching to, how many tabs are being skipped (ifany), and/or how tong of a swipe gesture to make to get to a desiredtab.

FIG. 3A, FIG. 3B, and FIG. 3C are diagrams illustrating an examplescenario where an application interface 305 including a tab toolbar 260switches tabs in response to a swipe gesture, in accordance with variousaspects of the subject technology. FIG. 3A shows an applicationinterface 305 in the form of a web browser displayed on a touch screen.The application interface 305 may correspond to an application in whichmultiple tabs are open, however only the content of one tab 310 is shownin the application interface 305.

A toolbar 315 is displayed in the application interface 305 and isconfigured to receive and display the location or source of the contentloaded in the displayed tab 310. For example, in FIG. 3A, the toolbar315 is an address toolbar for the web browser that displays a uniformresource locator (URL) field. In particular, the address toolbarindicates that the content for the currently active tab 310 is from theURL “www.website2.com.”

FIG. 3A also shows an additional user interface component that providesthe user with an indication of the tabs that are open in theapplication. The additional user interface in the application interface305 is in the form of a tab toolbar 320. In addition to indicating whichtabs are open in the application, the tab toolbar also provides a visualindication to the user of which tab is active (e.g., identifying a tabwhose content is shown in the application interface 305). In thescenario illustrated in FIG. 3A, the tab for “website2.com” is theactive tab and the other tab for “website1.com” is the inactive tabwhose content is not presently shown in the application interface 305.Accordingly, the visual indicator associated with the active tab ishighlighted or otherwise set apart from the inactive tab. In some cases,the tab toolbar 320 may also be used to select which tab to switch to.

A user may initiate a swipe gesture 330 by making contact with the touchscreen with a finger 325 and longitudinally dragging the finger 325 onthe touch screen along the length of the address toolbar 315, as seen inFIG. 3A. The swipe gesture 330 in FIG. 3A is shown occurring from theright to the left. However, swipe gestures 330 may also occur from theright to the left. As the swipe gesture 330 on the address toolbar 315occurs, the content of the active tab 310 shown in FIG. 3A may bedragged to the left, as can be seen in FIG. 3B.

FIG. 3B shows that as the swipe gesture 330 continues to the left, thecontent of the tab 310 previously displayed in the application interface305 is dragged to the left and the content of another tab 350 open inthe application begins to appear in the application interface 205. Thecontent of tab 310 is dragged such that location of the point of contactbetween the user's finger 325 is the same relative to the displayedcontent of tab 310 and the toolbar 315. As seen in the tab toolbar 320,the visual indicator associated with the tab 310 remains highlighted orotherwise set apart from the inactive tabs until the tabs are switched.

The user may reverse the direction of the swipe gesture 330 if the userdesires and return to the right at any time before a swipe threshold isreached. In response to reversing the swipe direction, the content ofthe tab 310 may be dragged back to the right and return to its originalposition as seen in FIG. 3A. Accordingly, the user may have a preview ofthe content of the tab 350 to the right of tab 310 and, if the user doesnot wish to switch tabs, the user can return the application interface305 to its original view using the same swipe gesture 330.

If, on the other hand, the user wishes to switch tabs to the tab 350 tothe right of tab 310, the user may continue the swipe gesture 330. Oncethe swipe gesture 330 reaches the swipe threshold, the switching of thetabs from tab 310 to tab 350 will occur. When the tabs are switched, thehighlighted visual indicator on the toolbar 320 will switch from thevisual indicator for tab 310 to the visual indicator for tab 350 and thecontent of tab 350 will be displayed in the application interface.

As is seen in FIG. 2C, the switching of tabs from tab 310 to tab 350 iscomplete and the content of tab 350, the new active tab, is displayed inthe application interface 305. The application interface 305 is alsoshown with the address toolbar 315 showing the URL (“www.website1.com”)for the new active tab 350. Furthermore, the visual indicator 360 fortab 350 is also highlighted in the tab toolbar 320.

Although various aspects of the subject technology are discussed withrespect to switching from one tab to an adjacent tab, in other aspects,the tab switching module 130 may switch to tabs that are not adjacent tothe active tab. For example, for an application that has multiple tabsopen, the tab switching module 130 may switch from one tab to anothertab based a length of the swiping gesture or a starting point and endingpoint of a swiping gesture.

In some aspects, the tab switching module 130 may scroll through thetabs open in the application as the swipe gesture continues from astarting location to an ending point. For example, a short swipe gesturein one direction may cause the active tab to switch from one tab to anadjacent tab. A longer swipe gesture in the same direction may cause theactive tab to scroll through one or more tabs until the swipe gestureends.

According to various aspects of the subject technology, the tab toolbar320 may also provide the user with an indication of how many tabs areopen in the application and also allow the user to determine which tabthe user is switching to by seeing which visual indicator correspondingto an open tab is highlighted, how many tabs are being skipped (if any),and/or how long of a swipe gesture to make to get to a desired tab.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example process 400 for switchingtabs in an application, in accordance with various aspects of thesubject technology. Although the steps in FIG. 4 may be discussed withrespect to the components of computing device 100 illustrated in FIG. 1,the steps are not limited to these components. Furthermore, although thesteps are shown in one particular order, other orderings of steps arealso possible. For example other orderings may include additional steps,fewer steps, or steps that occur in parallel.

At block 405, the display interface 110 may provide for the displayingof an application interface on a display device, such as a touch screen.Although the application associated with the application interface mayhave multiple tabs open, only the content of one of the tabs isdisplayed in the application interface along with a toolbar (e.g., anaddress toolbar) configured to receive a swipe gesture.

The input interface 120, at block 410, may determine whether a swipegesture on the toolbar has been received by an input device, such as thetouch screen. If no swipe gesture is received, the input interface 120may continue to monitor input signals from the touch screen. If a swipegesture is detected, at block 415, the tab switching module 130 mayswitch from displaying the content associated with the first tab todisplaying content associated with a second tab open in the application.

According to some aspects, when a swipe gesture on a touch screen isreceived, the input interface 120 may determine whether the location ofthe swipe gesture corresponds to the location of the address toolbar inthe application interface. If the swipe gesture corresponds to thelocation of the address toolbar, the input interface 120 may determineone or more swipe characteristics such as a swipe direction or how longthe swipe gesture is. The tab switching module 130 may then use theswipe characteristics to select an open tab to switch to and switch tothat tab.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example computer system 500with which any of the computing devices described herein may beimplemented. In certain aspects, the computer system 500 may beimplemented using hardware or a combination of software and hardware,either in a dedicated server, or integrated into another entity, ordistributed across multiple entities.

The example computer system 500 includes a processor 502, a main memory504, a static memory 506, a disk drive unit 516, and a network interfacedevice 520 which communicate with each other via a bus 508. The computersystem 500 may further include an input/output interface 512 that may beconfigured to communicate with various input/output devices such asvideo display units (e.g., liquid crystal (LCD) displays, cathode raytubes (CRTs), or touch screens), an alphanumeric input device (e.g., akeyboard), a cursor control device (e.g., a mouse), or a signalgeneration device (e.g., a speaker).

Processor 502 may be a general-purpose microprocessor (e.g., a centralprocessing unit (CPU)), a graphics processing unit (GPU), amicrocontroller, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array(FPGA), a Programmable Logic Device (PLD), a controller, a statemachine, gated logic, discrete hardware components, or any othersuitable entity that can perform calculations or other manipulations ofinformation.

A machine-readable medium (also referred to as a computer-readablemedium) may store one or more sets of instructions 524 embodying any oneor more of the methodologies or functions described herein. Theinstructions 524 may also reside, completely or at least partially,within the main memory 504 and/or within the processor 502 duringexecution thereof by the computer system 500, with the main memory 504and the processor 502 also constituting machine-readable media. Theinstructions 524 may further be transmitted or received over a network526 via the network interface device 520.

The machine-readable medium may be a single medium or multiple media(e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated cachesand servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. Themachine-readable medium may comprise the drive unit 516, the staticmemory 506, the main memory 504, the processor 502, an external memoryconnected to the input/output interface 512, or some other memory. Theterm “machine-readable medium” shall also be taken to include anynon-transitory medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying aset of instructions for execution by the machine and that cause themachine to perform any one or more of the methodologies of theembodiments discussed herein. The term “machine-readable medium” shallaccordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, storage mediumssuch as solid-state memories, optical media, and magnetic media.

Those of skill in the art would appreciate that the various illustrativeblocks, modules, elements, components, methods, and algorithms describedherein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, orcombinations of both. To illustrate this interchangeability of hardwareand software, various illustrative blocks, modules, elements,components, methods, and algorithms have been described above generallyin terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality isimplemented as hardware or software depends upon the particularapplication and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varyingways for each particular application. For example, the modules mayinclude software instructions encoded in a medium and executed by aprocessor, computer hardware components, or a combination of both. Themodules may each include one or more processors or memories that areused to perform the functions described below. According to anotheraspect, the various systems and modules may share one or more processorsor memories. Various components and blocks may be arranged differently(e.g., arranged in a different order, or partitioned in a different way)all without departing from the scope of the subject technology.

It is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps in theprocesses disclosed is an illustration of example approaches. Based upondesign preferences, it is understood that the specific order orhierarchy of steps in the processes may be rearranged. Some of the stepsmay be performed simultaneously.

The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in theart to practice the various aspects described herein. The previousdescription provides various examples of the subject technology, and thesubject technology is not limited to these examples. Variousmodifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilledin the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied toother aspects.

A phrase such as an “aspect” does not imply that such aspect isessential to the subject technology or that such aspect applies to allconfigurations of the subject technology. A disclosure relating to anaspect may apply to all configurations, or one or more configurations.An aspect may provide one or more examples. A phrase such as an aspectmay refer to one or more aspects and vice versa. A phrase such as an“embodiment” does not imply that such embodiment is essential to thesubject technology or that such embodiment applies to all configurationsof the subject technology. A disclosure relating to an embodiment mayapply to all embodiments, or one or more embodiments. An embodiment mayprovide one or more examples. A phrase such an embodiment may refer toone or more embodiments and vice versa. A phrase such as a“configuration” does not imply that such configuration is essential tothe subject technology or that such configuration applies to allconfigurations of the subject technology. A disclosure relating to aconfiguration may apply to all configurations, or one or moreconfigurations. A configuration may provide one or more examples. Aphrase such a configuration may refer to one or more configurations andvice versa.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for switching tabsin an application, method comprising: displaying an applicationinterface on a touch screen, the application interface comprising atleast a toolbar and content associated with a first tab from a pluralityof tabs open in the application; receiving, on the touch screen, a swipegesture on the toolbar in the application interface; and switching, inresponse to the receiving of the swipe gesture, from displaying thecontent associated with the first tab to displaying content associatedwith a second tab in the plurality of tabs.
 2. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein the application is a web browser, and whereinthe toolbar is an address tool bar for the web browser configured toreceive and display a uniform resource locator (URL).
 3. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the applicationinterface displayed on the touch screen comprises a user interfacecomponent containing a visual indication representing each tab in theplurality of tabs open in the application.
 4. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 3, wherein the visual indication for the tab, havingcontent displayed in the application interface, is highlighted.
 5. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein the switching fromdisplaying the content associated with the first tab to displayingcontent associated with a second tab comprises removing the highlightingfrom the visual indication for the first tab and highlighting the visualindication for the second tab.
 6. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, further comprising: determining a direction for the swipegesture; and selecting, based on the direction for the swipe gesture,the second tab from the plurality of tabs open in the application. 7.The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:determining a length of the swipe gesture; and selecting, based on thelength of the swipe gesture, the second tab from the plurality of tabsopen in the application.
 8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,wherein the second tab is adjacent to the first tab.
 9. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the swipe gesture is ahorizontal swipe gesture.
 10. The computer-implemented method of claim1, wherein the toolbar is positioned horizontally at a top portion ofthe application interface.
 11. A system for switching tabs in anapplication, the system comprising: one or more processors; and amachine-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, whichwhen executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to perform operations comprising: providing for the displayan application interface, the application interface comprising a toolbarand content associated with a first tab from a plurality of tabs open inthe application; receiving, via an input device, a swipe gesture on thetoolbar in the application interface; and switching, in response to thereceiving of the swipe gesture, from displaying in the applicationinterface the content associated with the first tab to displayingcontent associated with a second tab in the plurality of tabs.
 12. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein the input device is a touch screen and theapplication interface is displayed on the touch screen.
 13. The systemof claim 11, wherein the application is a web browser, and wherein thetoolbar is an address tool bar for the web browser configured to receiveand display a uniform resource locator (URL).
 14. The system of claim11, wherein the application interface displayed on the touch screencomprises a user interface component containing a visual indicationrepresenting each tab in the plurality of tabs open in the application,and wherein the visual indication for the tab whose content is displayedin the application interface is highlighted.
 15. The system of claim 11,wherein the operations further comprise: determining a direction for theswipe gesture; and selecting, based on the direction for the swipegesture, the second tab from the plurality of tabs open in theapplication.
 16. The system of claim 11, wherein the operations furthercomprise: determining a length of the swipe gesture; and selecting,based on the length of the swipe gesture, the second tab from theplurality of tabs open in the application.
 17. A non-transitorymachine-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, whichwhen executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operationscomprising: displaying a browser interface on a touch screen, thebrowser interface comprising an address toolbar and content associatedwith a first tab from a plurality of tabs open in a web browser;receiving, on the touch screen, a swipe gesture on the address toolbarin the application interface; and switching, in response to thereceiving of the swipe gesture, from displaying the content associatedwith the first tab to displaying content associated with a second tab inthe plurality of tabs.
 18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium ofclaim 17, wherein the application interface displayed on the touchscreen comprises a user interface component containing a visualindication representing each tab in the plurality of tabs open in theapplication, and wherein the visual indication for the tab whose contentis displayed in the application interface is highlighted.
 19. Thenon-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein theoperations further comprise: determining a direction for the swipegesture; and selecting, based on the direction for the swipe gesture,the second tab from the plurality of tabs open in the web browser. 20.The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein theoperations further comprise: determining a length of the swipe gesture;and selecting, based on the length of the swipe gesture, the second tabfrom the plurality of tabs open in the web browser.